If you peel an apple without breaking the peel i.e. cut
around the apple so that the peel is in one long piece,
you should throw the peel to the ground and if it lands
in the shape of a letter of the alphabet then it is the
initial of the person you will marry.

When you peel an apple say the alphabet and the letter
that you are on when the peel breaks is the initial of
the person that you will marry.

When your palm itches, you will come into some money.

Two deaths in the community will be followed by a third.

Never say "thank you" when someone gives you a
plant or it will die.

If you carry a hoe, spade, or shovel in the house, you
must carry it out the same door you came in by, or a
death will follow. (Library of Congress, Manuscript
Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection.)

In southeastern Ky, one goes like this: Two things that can come to no good end, a whistling woman and a crowing hen. My great-grandfather considered it extremely bad luck for a woman to whistle and any hen that crowed like a rooster (some actually did) was killed.(Joe Wright)

If all the food on the table is eaten it will be a clear
day tomorrow. (Library of Congress, Manuscript Division,
WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection.)

If all of the biscuits were gone before the next day, the
weather would be fair. (Oleen
Pollard)

If you start to go somewhere and come back for something
you will have bad luck. (Library of Congress, Manuscript
Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection.)

If you count the number of rigs in a funeral procession
you will soon have a death in your own family. (Library
of Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers'
Project Collection.)

If two forks are laid at a plate with no knife you will
be invited to a wedding. (Library of Congress, Manuscript
Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection.)

Cats go crazy when a death occurs in their environment
and consequently are kept out of the house on such
occasions. (Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA
Federal Writers' Project Collection.)

If you drop a dish towel on the floor, a worse
housekeeper than yourself is coming to visit you.
(Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal
Writers' Project Collection.)

Never begin a task on a Friday that you can't finish that
week, or expect ill. (Library of Congress, Manuscript
Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection.)

If you spilled some salt, you picked some of it up and
threw it over your left shoulder to stop bad luck from
coming. (Kay
Blanton)

When a black cat ran across the road in front of you, you
would say BREAD & BUTTER ON MY TABLE, CUT IT WITH A
BUTTER KNIFE if you could not turn around and go another
way, or bad luck would come to you. (Kay Blanton)

Dirt was never swept out the front door after the sun
went down or bad luck would come to your home. (Kay Blanton)

If a sparrow flew into the home, it had to be killed or
someone in the family would die. (Kay Blanton)

You never walked under a ladder or bad luck would come to
you. (Kay
Blanton)

You could not step on a crack in the sidewalks, because
it would break your mothers back. (Kay Blanton)

If salt was borrowed from anyone, you paid it back with
sugar or bad luck would come to you. (Kay Blanton)

If you broke a mirrow you would have seven years of bad
luck (Kay
Blanton)

A baby was never allowed to look in a mirror before it
was a year old or it would die. (Kay Blanton)

You always say so long or I'll see you later, & never
goodbye, when leaving family members or you might never
see them again. (Kay Blanton)

If a woman was pregnant she never went to a funeral or
she would mark her baby. (Kay Blanton)

You never tickeled a baby's feet because it would make it
stutter. (Kay
Blanton)

Weather Predictions

When leaves on trees turn up, a storm is coming.

When chimney smoke goes to the ground, bad weather will
follow.

The number of fogs in August predict the number of snow
storms the following winter.

A ring around the moon means that rain will come in three
days.

If big black storm clouds came up you take an axe, hold
it up towards the sky and bring it down. This cut the
clouds into so they would go away. (Kay Blanton)

Planting Signs and Superstitions

Plant peas on February 14th.

Plant vegetables which grow underground, i.e. potatoes
and carrots, in the dark of the moon and plant vegetables
which grow above ground, i.e. corn and beans, in the
light of the moon.

On New Years day, the gender of the visitors into the
home would determine whether the Spring chicken hatching
was roosters or pullets. Female visitors meant pullets
and male visitors meant roosters would be born. If the
company was mixed, say 1 male and 2 females the greater
percentage of chickens hatched would be pulletts. (Oleen Pollard)

When breaking a baby from his bottle wait until the signs are past the stomach and the baby won't cry for his bottle.(Carol)